Jimmy Kebe enhanced his cult status with a deadly double to sink Martin O’Neill’s Sunderland and earn his boss Brian McDermott’s team their fifth win in six.

A delighted McDermott (right) said: “I thought we played some really good stuff against a good side.

“They didn’t do too much and there wasn’t much in the game and Ian Harte’s set-plays were terrific.

“Jimmy’s becoming phenomenal in the air and we had a laugh about that before in the dressing room.

“The first goal was fabulous and it was great for me to give Nick Blackman his debut too.

“It’s very difficult for me picking a team and Adam Le Fondre is the clearest example of that because he’s a real team man, well they all are really.

“I’ve had to learn about this league, too. I did that very quickly and so did the players but it’s been a steep learning curve for all of us.”

The Mali magician, who impressed Black Cats fans with his cheeky dig at Newcastle United the other week when he joked he was off to sign for the Toon Army due to his French roots, has now rattled in three goals in his last four appearances.

Sunderland’s deadline-day signing Danny Graham had to start from the bench and his ten-minute cameo saw him go close to netting a winner before Kebe’s header.

Wing wizard Kebe shot Royals into an early lead in the seventh minute when he drilled home Jobi McAnuff’s pull-back from the byline.

It was a goal created by a trio of wide men as McAnuff, playing through the middle, was picked out beautifully by winger Garath McCleary during the build-up.

Reading were piling down the left flank where Sunderland right-back for the day Craig Gardner was all at sea.

Naturally a midfielder, Gardner looked very nervy out of position.

And those nerves got the better of him in the 20th minute when he was booked for sticking out a leg and upending the lightning-quick McCleary who was clear through.

Centre-back Alex Pearce was lurking with intent at the post from the resulting free-kick but he could not direct Harte’s inswinger towards goalkeeper Simon Mignolet’s goal.

Royals’ shot-stopper Adam Federici was largely an onlooker in the opening 25 minutes until he was finally called into action.

The Black Cats drove forward down the left and Australia international Federici, who turned 28 in the week, made a smart double save from Alfred N’Diaye and then Seb Larsson in the 25th minute.

N’Diaye cut in well before releasing the trigger. Federici stopped the shot well but spilled the ball before making amends quickly to save from Larsson on the rebound.

Just before the half-hour mark, though, O’Neill’s side were level.

Striker Pavel Pogrebnyak dived in on centre-back John O’Shea as he was going away from goal in the box but referee Lee Mason got the flag from a linesman and awarded the spot-kick.

Gardner calmly made up for his earlier mistakes by steering the ball low and hard past Federici for the equaliser.

Aggrieved by the way in which they had let the visitors back into the game, top-flight battlers Reading attempted to hit back hard.

With minutes to go before the break, Russia international Pogrebnyak threw himself at Harte’s free-kick but Mignolet was equal to his header and Pearce could not turn home the loose ball.

Royals felt they should have had their own spot-kick as McAnuff was felled in the box by O’Shea on the stroke of half-time.

The visitors knew that they needed to shape up and O’Neill soon hauled off Larsson and replaced him with rising star, England Under-21s international Danny Rose.

However the hosts were still in control and veteran left-back Harte’s set-piece deliveries were keeping Mignolet busy all afternoon.

David Vaughan did not do his team-mates any favours when he brought down McAnuff just 22 yards from goal – but luckily for Sunderland and their impressive keeper, this time the defensive wall came out on top against Harte.